The winter months are quickly approaching and a children’s birthday party that lands during those months is challenging to plan. But if you use some creativity, each season offers lots of potentially fun activities or themes which will make any party special. Yes, wintertime is just full of great children’s wintry party themes!
A Winter Carnival Make up games that children would play at a fair or carnival but use a winter theme. You could set up stations for different games. For instance, establish a booth with tin cans lined up on the edge of a table and have the children try to knock them down by propelling a snowball at the cans. You could let the children have sledding races or create stations for snowball bowling. Hand out prizes to the winners that are fitting of a carnival like a stuffed animal and, since it’s a carnival, make sure to serve fun carnival food like pretzels, cotton candy, popcorn and hot chocolate.
A Snowman Competition This could end up being one of the best activities! Split the kids into even teams and place the teams at different locations in your yard. This might be a good activity for the front yard—providing you have the space—and you can get a jump on decorating for Christmas at the same time! Old accessories and clothing should be collected ahead of time to supply the kids with something to clothe their snowman. After all, there’s nothing worse than a naked snowman! Also, don’t forget about supplying them with carrots, raisins or berries and sticks for noses, eyes, mouths and arms—what’s a snowman without a face? You and other parents should stand by as judges and, when everyone is finished with their snowman, pick the best one and present the winning team with some kind of an award. Snowballs, a snowman pizza and a snowman ice cream cake make tasty treats to serve inside to hungry children after all the excitement.
Snow Castle Party Who says you need sand and sunshine to make a castle? That white stuff in your back—or front—yard can turn out to be an asset. Throw a snow castle constructing party! At this party, kids should come all bundled up and ready to spend lots of time outside using plastic toy shovels, beach pails and different kinds of carving tools to make a castle out of snow. You can have the children work together to make one big castle or make it into a competition between two teams—either way, the kids are sure to have a blast! When the fun outdoors is finished, bring the kids indoors to warm up with some delicious chili or soup and hot chocolate; but don’t forget those marshmallows! Snow white frosting and flaked coconut will make a great wintery topping for just about any dessert.
Winter Olympics Arrange competitions and games for kids to enjoy that are built on ideas from the winter Olympic events. Put together events of snowshoe racing, snowball throwing contests and snow mound jumping, just to name a few. Be sure to have a different award for first, second and third place winners for each event. Decorations should be set to the theme of the winter Olympics—draw the Olympic rings in the snow in your back yard and use food coloring to show off the Olympic ring colors. You can also hang up paper torches inside your house and the birthday cake should be red, white and blue.
Winter Pool Party Why should a few inches of snow stop the children from enjoying one of summer’s best activities? Indoor pools render the chance for kids to swim, splash and celebrate in a regulated climate while the weather outdoors may be frigid. You may be able to rent a pool in a community center, hotel or fitness center and decorations can be left to the imagination. You could just have tropical-colored decorations to symbolize summer. But wouldn’t it be fun to have the best of both seasons? Purchase inflatable palm trees and decorate them with paper snowflakes. How about snowflake-printed towels lain over lawn chairs? The cake could be a large swimming pool with polar bear figurines on top.
Ice Skating Bring the children to a safe skating lake or pond for the party or rent an ice rink for a few hours. If you choose to rent an ice rink, you’ll need to rent one four to six weeks in advance; be sure to ask about package deals and if you can bring in food from home. You’ll want to have parents nearby that are good skaters so that they can help the kids that don’t know how to ice skate. Play some fun, upbeat music and let the children free-skate. Integrate a few games such as a skating version of red light/green light. The birthday child stands in front of the rest of the children but a little bit of distance away with his or her back toward them. When the child says, “green light” the rest of the kids will start to skate ahead; when the child says, “red light” and turns around, all the children have to be stopped. If the birthday child catches anyone moving forward then that person has to go back to the starting line. The first child to tag the birthday child wins the game and then takes their turn in that spot. For decorations you could hang up icicles, paper ice skates and snowflakes around the rink. If you got a package deal, hot dogs or pizza usually is included. The cake could be in the form of an icy pond with figure skaters adorning the top or in the shape of an ice skate.
Snowflake Ball Although snow may get old for adults as the season wears on, for children the magic never fades. For this type of party, rent a banquet hall and decorate it with icicle lights and snowflakes dangling over their heads while they’re on the dance floor. Use synthetic snow and sparkles to create a wintery invitation in the entryway. For the table, purchase shimmering white and blue place settings on a snowflake tablecloth. An artificial snow making machine and ice sculptures would be an enhancement to the magical feel of the party. You can’t forget the entertainment! Make sure to have some party games that are suitable for the snowflake party such as Snowflake Trivia. Get several adults to write winter or Christmas trivia questions on paper cut-out snowflakes—one question per snowflake. Then each child pulls a snowflake out of a bowl and tries to answer the question; the child who answers the most questions wins. Or you could hire someone to give basic ballroom dance lessons. For the menu, snowflake cookies, white hot chocolate, a tray of veggie and cheese pieces that are cut into snowflakes and a snowflake cake would be a hit.
Snow Sculpting Snow sculpting is a lot of fun and what child wouldn’t love to do this? Hand out to each child a portion of snow to use. Make up ahead of time a box full of “props” that the kids can pick from to adorn their sculpture with. Items could include: masks, boas, beads, sunglasses, flowers, leaves and rocks. Pick a time limit—say, an hour—and let the children develop their best sculpture during that time frame. Take a vote to confirm a winner in several different categories like “best executed”, “most creative” and “best over-all”. For the cake, you could have one specially made that looks like an ice sculpture!
Penguin Party Just about all children love animals and who doesn’t love penguins? They’re so cute and would make a great party theme! Decorating can be very simple: white and black streamers and balloons hung on the walls and ceiling of the party room and you could buy a penguin-printed tablecloth with black place settings and white napkins. If you want an extra touch, place some plush penguins of different sizes around the room. Entertaining the kids will be just as easy as decorating. You can show them a movie like “Happy Feet” or “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”, give them a penguin craft to make and play some standard games in which the children will have to imitate the penguin like penguin waddle relay races. The kids will absolutely love your penguin cupcakes cake! Whether you’re trying to get rid of those winter blues or planning a birthday party, one of these winter party themes are sure to be a hit. You’ll want to check out our great website for everything you’ll need for your party!